Legalism

Legalism: A Problem in Christianity Today.

There is a state of influence today which is causing rebellion in churches, and there are all kinds of theoretical arguments about it, etc.; it is called legalism. When people are told they have to “jump through hoops” in becoming a Christian, they don't develop spiritually. They are trying to please men instead of God. Legalism is following the Law as a means to Salvation. But when God sent His Son to do His sacrificial work in the Cross, the 600 + laws were wiped clean. Jesus, in the 22nd chapter of Matthew, verses 38-40, gave us these two commandments:

Jesus said to them, “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind. This is the first great commandment, and the second one is like it; You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40

In Romans 6, the Apostle Paul discusses this also. He says “What do we say now? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How can we who are dead to sin, live any longer in it?” Never let it be so! Keep in the love of God being Born again in the Spirit. When one is baptized by immersion in water, it signifies dying to sin, and when one comes up, he is clean of sin. But he still needs to show his appreciation to God and Jesus for what they have done, and thus the commandment to love the Lord his God. When he shows this love for God and for his neighbor, then he is keeping the law, because he will not want to steal or kill, or covet, etc.

So actually, what was eliminated was the ceremonial law and the political law, which taught them how to live in society. The real issue, according to Pastor James R. Hines, is the question as to whether we should teach “do's and don'ts” in Christian living or should we preach that there are standards which ought to be maintained and deeds which should not be done. A large crowd would say that we should not be negative, and not be legalistic. However, when we come to a question like this, we should look to the Scriptures for the answer. It is realistic to say that every page of Scripture lists things we are not to do. The first page of the Bible tells Adam “Thou shalt not” and the last page of Scripture warns not to take away or add to the words of the Book. All of Scripture has rules of what to do and what not to do. Every page is replete with “thou shalt” and “thou shalt not”. To say that the rules of conduct are only found as part of the Mosaic law is certainly a misrepresentation of the truth.

Legalism in itself is not totally incorrect; however, when one says it is required for Salvation, there is where the fault lies. The Mosaic law was given to the Israelites to show them their sin, and when Christ died on the cross, this took care of the guilt of sin, but the law is encompassed in two commandments, to love the Lord with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength, and secondly to love one's neighbor as oneself. In other words, if we love God, we are not going to want to take His name in vain, we are going to want to show Him that we love Him in worship, and we are not going to put anything before Him as an object of our love, respect, and reverence. Secondly, if we love our neighbor, we are not going to want to steal from him, hurt him physically or kill him, lie to or about him, covet anything he has, or behave in an impure manner in relation to him. We are going to practice this same love with our parents, giving them the honor that God commanded us to give them in return for their giving us care at birth and throughout our childhood. As a result of the suffering, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, all we have to do is accept His efforts on our behalf, and we can live with Him for eternity. We don't have to observe the Mosaic Law to gain salvation. However, we do so out of love and appreciation for what He did for us.

In the counseling field, we are faced with all kinds of legal dilemmas, for example, when someone has conceived a child and may not know what to do because of being unprepared. The following is a partial discussion from Pastor Michael Belzman's handbook:
WHEN THE LAW AND THE WORD OF GOD DISAGREE
Some human services workers and counselors find employment in medical facilities and health clinics that do prenatal and perinatal counseling. It is important that those who find themselves in this field be well versed on certain landmark Supreme Court decisions including Roe v. Wade, which is without doubt the most controversial decision of the 20th century. Dr. Frank Beckwith, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Culture and Law at Trinity International University Graduate School, gives us his insight as to the current legal status of abortion in America: He says that Roe V. Wade only permits abortion during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy, when in actuality the current law permits it up until the end of the nine months. I would say that if there is that much disagreement as far as the law is concerned, we would be going against an ambiguous administration, so our emphasis should be an encouragement toward the biblical view. This would be the commandment that Jesus gave about loving our neighbor; when we love this human being within us, we do not want to take its life.

Another thing we do out of love is set standards for our own conduct. For example, if one of our friends has a problem with alcohol, we would abstain from our own use of it out of love for this friend. This is not legalism, it is the practice of love. We are loving our neighbor as we would love ourselves. There is also the Golden Rule, which says that the way we want others to treat us, that is the way we should treat them. Such common sense things are right there in the Bible, so plain and simple, so what is there to argue about?
Now let's look at the origin of legalism, and see how it connects to our interests today. Legalism is a term that was first used in the Chinese culture during the Warring States Period of their society. The group of philosophers and administrators known as Legalists were first largely considered the great Satans of Chinese History.

The basic starting point of the early Confucians was that humans were fundamentally good, born with te, which was Moral Virtue, but the third great Confucianist of antiquity believed exactly the opposite. They taught that all human beings were born fundamentally depraved, selfish, greedy, and lustful. Hsun Tzu believed that they could be made good through acculturation and education. This also goes along with the European and American philosophy from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century. Hsun Tzu had a student, Han Fei Tzu, who began with basically the same premise, but he taught that people could be made good through the creation of state laws. He taught that the only way to check human depravity was to establish laws that bountifully rewarded actions that benefited others and the state, and ruthlessly punish all actions that hurt others or the state. This type of government did not last long, but it left a lasting impression on the world. It would profoundly affect later governments. Later, the state laws promoted utilitarianism as a better social unifier than education. Utilitarianism was the emphasis on agriculture.

Legalism in the Western sense is in both civil and common law tradition is an approach to the analysis of legal questions characterized by abstract legal reasoning focusing on the applicable legal text, such as a constitution, legislation, or case law, rather than on the social economies or political context. Legalism has occurred in both civil and common law tradition. In its narrower versions legalism may endorse the notion that the pre-existing body of authorities legal materials already contains a uniquely predetermined right answer to any legal problem that may arise. Legalism typically also claims that the talk of the judge is to ascertain the answer to a legal question by an essentially mechanical process.

There are a few forms of legalism that have found their way into our body of knowledge. I will discuss them here. The first is legal positivism, which was influenced by the seminal work of John Austin, who lived from 1790 to 1859. It does not accept internationally defined human rights as fundamentally moral or just. It separates the law from morality; it does not recognize human customs or conventions, does not endorse laws of particular content, and does not suppose that laws are to be obeyed. The second one is legal realism, and that considers the indeterminacy of the law, it recognizes an interdisciplinary approach to the law, and it employs legal determination to achieve social purpose, and balance competing societal interests. A third form, natural law, is set by nature and is valid everywhere. A fourth, Interpretivism, is a school of thought in Jurisprudence, and it is a study of what people think about on the anthropological front, and when research is done using this approach, it becomes a qualitative approach.

All these approaches to legalism are approaches that employ humanistic thinking, with no consideration of the God that originated mankind and its order. When seeking a semblance of order in a church, if we are thinking in these carnal ways, this is how legalism gets started. God is not looking to legislate our hearts. When we are loving our neighbor, and loving God with all our hearts, we will not want to legislate people into these categories of reward and punishment, but we will encourage one another to operate in love in all things.